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A Parent’s Guide to Delta Rune (Video Game)

WARNING: Reading this article may give away things in the story ranging from unimportant to plot turners.

Delta Rune by Toby Fox

Type: Role Playing Game

Basic Idea: The player is just a seemingly ordinary kid living in a world after the friendly monsters have been released and made friends with mankind. Unfortunately, he and an unfriendly monster classmate named Susie somehow end up underground and have to saved the world with the help of a prince.

Quality

Plot 4½/5 Amazing: It’s been a long time since I’ve played a good video game, months in fact. At first, I thought it was merely a pretty good game, better than I had seen in a while, but not the best I had ever played. It soon became more than that. Divided into chapters, currently with only one released, it is filled with humor, new yet familiar characters, and exciting twists and turns. I am excited to see how it continues to unfold, hopefully with even better twists and turns than its predecessor.

Game Play: 4/5 Well Done: The game play is so far similar to Undertale, the game that comes before this one. It is a combination of game styles, mainly focusing on battles, that have a variety of options besides fighting, and puzzles. Besides this, like many good RPGs, there are conversations with other characters and bonus material.

Graphics: 3½/5 Above Average: Graphics are old school but detailed. It’s like reading a classic made in a modern style, dear old themes with a modern twist.

Music: 4/5 Well Done: The game is full of beautiful music of all kinds, often with a melancholy sound. The credits to the first chapter had quite a lovely song accompanied with soothing vocals.

Overall: 4/5 Well Done: I am genuinely excited to see how this game progress. While worried it would be a washed out sequel, I should not have expected anything less from a person who took the American gaming world by storm. I definitely recommend it to Undertale fans and other gamers thirteen and older.

Moral Content

Sexual and Inappropriate Content: 1/5 Brief Suggestive Themes: A girl mentions kissing a boy, and another says with the same boy she “danced inappropriately.” The player can flirt with monsters to keep them from fighting, and at one time the player can encourage their friends to do so. Nicknames like “sweetheart” and “honey” are mentioned, and a man said he called his wife at first sight, “a hot piece of work.” A character mentions “picking up chicks.” “Kiss” and “kissable” are used for descriptive purposes.

Violence: 1/5 Light Violence: As an RPG, there is a good deal of fighting, but this method is discouraged by the players, rather encouraging the player to end fights in a peaceful manner.

Swearing and Using the Lord’s Name in Vain: 2½/5 Some Moderate Swearing: “Damn” is misused at least six times. “Hell” is misused at least twelve times and at least twice to describe places, and “hellish” is used for descriptive purposes. “Ass” is misused five at least times, and forms of “badass” twice. “Piss” is misused at least five times. “Sucks” is said at least twice. “Jeez” is said three times. God’s name is taken in vain at least eight times. Your group can have a name and among the various possibilities is a name spelled $!$!. This is implied to be a really bad curse word, at which one “bad guy” is shocked at. Later, said “bad guy” says a person is teaching him how to swear. The amount of swearing can change based off of the choices the player makes.

Emotional, Intense, and Disturbing Content: 3/5 Some Disturbing Content: A character rips their soul out of their chest, which looks like a heart, and throws it into a cage. This is followed by said character’s eye turning red and smirking at the camera. A girl lifts a boy and shoves him against a locker before threatening to bite his face off. A shopkeeper has a doll/stuffed animal style face with a cut and stitches. Characters threaten to and attempt to kill characters in normal video game style. A character mentions getting hit in the face with a lady’s pie and consequently getting face planted into a table. A character trait you can presumably give your character is pain. An empty vehicle explodes. There is a graveyard in a town. Crying and sickness are respectively mentioned in speech. It mentions someone gives “war chants.” “Heart attack” is used for descriptive purposes. A character, for humorous purposes, mentions eating the “blood and skin” of a doughnut. “Blood,” “bloodthirsty,” “death,” and “poisoned” are used for descriptive purposes.

The game has a pain and seizure warning.

Religious Issues: ½/5 Slight Appearance: The town’s religion appears to worship an angel, and said angel is mentioned by one character in a legend. The religious leader is called “Father.” It briefly mentions that anime and a TV show have “hot demon guys” and bad guy “giga demons.” An enemy has the weapon “devilsknife.” The Earth is called “her” and capitalized at times, and there is mentioned of prophesy. A character mentions luck. A fountain is called “Holy.” “Gods” is used for descriptive purposes, and a regular school chair is called “The Throne of the Gods.” “Curse” is used for descriptive purposes.

Magic: 2/5 Use of Magic: Characters use magic spells to heal people and put people to sleep. It mentions that video games have dragons and a “white wizard,” and a book called “How to Draw Dragons” is mentioned.

Others: A character says they like boys “like I am,” but it is very clear that said character is a girl by their friends calling it “her” and the character also saying other very strange things, like sports are their favorite food. A character mentions finding cigarette butts. It mentions that characters have country, jazz, and ska music. “Santa Claus” is used for descriptive purposes. A poster mentions a school dance, and dance is mentioned in speech. The player is given the option to sniff a marker. A character has a “Halloween pencil.” There are parody references to popular video games and TV shows i. e. Super Smashing Brothers as a reference to Super Smash Bros. or the Symptons in reference to the Simpsons. “Adult beverage” is used for descriptive purposes.

Overall: 3/5 Teenage Appropriate: The cursing and scarier themes make me not recommend it to children; it should be fine for most teenagers though. As a whole, I would recommend it to teenagers starting at thirteen or fourteen.

Last Updated: November 5, 2018

NOTE: This is only a demo of the game, having only the first chapter. It is very possible over time that this article will be altered/updated.